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HMS Thunder Child (H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds)

The Last Days of Thunder Child - Adaptation Retro Sci-fi. For more info click the image.

Sunday, 29 January 2017

What Little Camouflaged Pipit Birds Are Theses?

I'm not sure if I was looking at a Water Pipit, a Rock Pipit or a Meadow Pipit. The reason being is because a man came into the bird hide, where I was looking out over the flooded Fenland. The River Delph always bursts its bank from November to March. Then it recedes back to the river for spring and summer. The man was all excited because he said he had seen a Water Pipit. I only look for the Birds of Prey like Marsh Harriers, Buzzards and Owls. The other little birds are lost on me because I've never really paid much attention to them and I'm ignorant of many of their names. Therefore, a Water Pipit did not flick any switches for me. Though I acted as though I was knowledgeable. Well... I never admitted to not knowing what he was on about. He went on to say he had got his camera out but his battery was too low. Therefore he had come back in the hope of seeing another the next day.

My wife Carole seems to know a great variety of these little birds and she knew what the man was talking about and had heard of such feathered friends even if she was not totally sure of what one might look like. I rely on her to tell me what is what concerning such things. Slowly, I'm becoming educated. Sometimes she gets it wrong, but we correct the judgement when looking at the bird watchers guides.

The man who spoke of the Water Pipkin did not stay long. He went off along the dyke to the next hide while Carole and I continued to look across the flooded Fenland. I noticed a lot of these tiny little birds running across the mud by the river's edge and started to photograph a few. The were very well camouflaged. I asked Carole and she said they might be Siskins.

I took a few snapshots and when we got home and blew the photos up onto the computer, the little fellas or gal Pipits that were running about, came out rather well. They were tiny little things. When we looked them up, they seemed to be Pipits. Like the little urchins, the man had been speaking of. However, they looked more like Meadow Pipits according to our guide book. Well, the water flooded Fenland does become a meadow in the spring so they may have been. They also looked similar to Rock Pipits too, but there are no rocks about. Of course, they may be Water Pipits but they seemed to lack the colouring according to the bird guide book. Whatever these lovely little birds were, they must be Pipits of some kind and not Siskins.